ABOUT
Established in 2022, Matter Lab was founded by Caleb White and Emily Gruendel. Our office serves as a platform for design research, bolstered by our involvement in academia and put to the test in the material world.
Caleb White
Founding Partner
Caleb is a Lecturer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Architecture. He has also taught at the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his Master of Architecture from the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania where he was awarded the Faculty Prize, the James Smyth Warner Memorial Prize, the AIA Pennsylvania Student Award, and the E. Lewis Dales Traveling Fellowship. He received his Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Colorado.
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Caleb was previously an Associate at the New York and Shanghai based boutique design firm Contemporary Architecture Practice, working with Ali Rahim and Hina Jamelle. His notable projects include Lijia Smart Park in Chongqing, AMEC headquarters in Nanchang, and NJCTTQ headquarters in Nanjing, among others. He has also worked and collaborated with offices such as Present Architecture in NYC, Ewing Cole in Philadelphia, and bldg.collective in Boulder Colorado.
Emily Gruendel AIA, NCARB
Founding Partner
Emily is a New York State registered architect with a passion for the intricacies of design and the historical significance of the built world. Holding both a Master of Architecture and a Master of Science in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania, she strives to merge her creativity with a profound appreciation for architectural heritage. Emily is also a graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign architecture program and a Chick Evans Scholar.
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Emily’s formative years were spent as an architectural designer at Kohn Pedersen Fox & Associates (KPF) in New York City. During this period, she contributed to a diverse array of projects including an expansive R&D campus in China, a luxurious condominium in Philadelphia, and a dynamic mixed-use high-rise in the heart of New York City, to name a few. Her experience at KPF led to an expertise in construction administration and project development and documentation. Emily is a lecturer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) School of Architecture in Troy, New York.